Enough is Enough!

Mayor Dunafon

Authentic Persian Rugs is not for sale. But that doesn’t matter to Glendale, Colo., Mayor Mike Dunafon, who—despite claiming to stand for property rights—wants to seize the property so a Houston-based private developer can build an entertainment district. This land grab is an outrageous abuse of property rights and a shameless abuse of power. Glendale’s mayor has completely abandoned the principles he once claimed to stand for. Check his record:

Mike Dunafon said in a video for his 2014 campaign for governor, “I am unable to occupy my neighbor’s home against his will,” because people only have a right to claim “the things that have not been claimed by another man through his effort.” He criticized government officials who “take from those small entrepreneurs” while “crushing the lifeblood of America…without regard to the unintended consequences, the forgotten man.”

Mayor Dunafon also promised that his government would “protect individual liberty and create an environment where capitalism can flourish.” Meanwhile, his land grab deprives a hard-working, successful family of entrepreneurs of the hard-earned property that provides their livelihood.

He also claimed that “coercion is the absolute enemy of freedom”—this land seizure is precisely the kind of bullying against which he campaigned.

To make matters worse, Mike Dunafon campaigned as a champion of small businesses and an opponent of moneyed interests. He called small businesses “the lifeblood of the economy” and “the engine that drives this nation.” He warned that, by meddling with small businesses, the government creates “harm that is done to the souls of the people who have a dream.” Dunafon also promised to work for the hard-working residents of Glendale and “avoid serving sectional interests.”

In fact, Mike Dunafon entered politics to protect his fiancée’s business from being shut down by the city government. Now that it’s safe, he’s put the Kholghys’ business just across the street in his crosshairs.